The Story So Far

Two hundred plus years in the future mankind has mastered both space and time travel. Vanya is a Time Guard, a warrior in training who must spend a year in the prehistoric past honing her survival and combat skills. Her skills are much needed as the Torridian alien race have launched a massive attack against humanity. Vanya and her romantic partner, Serah, travel the primeval jungle, dealing with dinosaurs and savages, as they make their way to an armory to supply themselves against the alien threat.

Standard non-nude cover of Vanya issue 4 by Zoran Jovicic. Image from the Bad Buy website.

Issue 04 Plot

After days of jungle trekking and having lost Reed to a Tyrannosaurus attack, Vanya and Serah are rescued by a contingent of soldiers who are also stranded in the past after attempting to escort a group of scientists to safety after a Torridian attack. Though their outpost looks ramshackle from the outside, the inside is fitted with computers and tech, a cafeteria, and most importantly, a shower in which Vanya and Serah partake of together before being joined by another soldier named Guy.

Human outpost in the prehistoric past.

Vanya gives a debriefing to Captain Jax about her adventures training as a Time Guard while he fills her in on the Torridian attacks against Earth. The captain has a mission to retrieve some supply caches, so it is back to the jungle for Vanya, Serah, and Guy, though armed with rifles because who knows what threats will be awaiting the trio out in the wild.

Commentary

The previous issue of Vanya was a bit on the slower side in pacing. Though the narrative was partially upended when Reed was suddenly and swiftly dispatched by a T-Rex, the overall plot seemed to slow down a bit as the characters had not made much progress to their goal to find the armory. Issue four, on the other hand, course corrects this and throws a barrage of new ingredients into the “story stew”: the rescue of Vanya and Serah, the outpost of human soldiers, new characters including Lucas (who has had a prior relationship with Serah) and Guy (who takes the place of Reed), new weapons, a new mission (that is similar to their old mission [find the armory/find the supply caches]), and, of course, the first time confrontation between Vanya and crew with Niya and her entourage. Basically, A LOT happens in issue four which brings on more excitement and more surprises.

Panel of Vanya eating a Croissant.

One of those surprises is a subtle one by the new character of Guy. Guy initially comes off as hyper masculine, proclaiming himself to Vanya as “the second-best thing” (with a wink) referring to his sexual prowess in the shower with her and Serah. In a normal B-movie situation, Guy is the type of soldier to be a braggart who will later receive sort of comeuppance. Yet, later in the issue, Guy raises his rifle to shoot at a herd of Ankylosaurus but is stopped by Vanya: “… just don’t shoot at anything until it growls at you, ok?” In normal pop culture situations, a character like Guy would see his masculinity and authority challenged, especially coming from a woman. An attack on him. Yet, he does not take it that way at all. He takes in what Vanya is showing him, confirms with a “Got it” and proceeds on normally (and by “normally” meaning him, Vanya, and Serah all share a moment of intimacy in a river before continuing their mission as professional soldiers). In fact, in a perhaps ironic twist, it is Serah who later fires her gun at a group of Compsognathus and then getting chastised by Vanya for giving away their position. 

The Guy/Vanya/gun scene is a small scene (probably more meant to underscore the deadly nature of the dinosaurs and what they are capable of), but coupled with many other similar small scenes (such as Serah reuniting with Lucas, Serah joining in with Vanya and Reed, and so on), it paints the future world of Vanya as a post-jealousy environment and more pro-gender equality society. As hinted at in the review of issue one, these sort of scenes (coupled with the graphic violence and explicit sex) gives Vanya strong Paul Verhoeven vibes. 

The end of the issue becomes the first encounter between Vanya and Niya. Both sets of humans manage to injure each other, but there are no fatalities on either side and in the end Vanya and company are captured. It is a little shocking at how easily Niya took Vanya down. Is Niya a better warrior? Has Vanya lost her touch so quickly after having a retaste of civilization? Something else? Regardless, Vanya needs to get her poop-in-a-group because the final page of the issue ominously ends with Niya and cohorts leading the three heroes to “a surprise.”

Vanya 04 non-nude variant cover by JC Fabul and Bryan Magnaye. Personal copy.Vanya 04 nude variant cover by JC Fabul and Bryan Magnaye. Personal copy.

Aside from the standard cover by Zoran Jovcic (who does the interior art as well), Vanya #4 sports a variety of alternate covers, in both non-nude and nude editions by a handful of other artists. The best alternative cover for issue three is done by Renato Camilo and Tommy Shelton. If Camilo’s name sounds familiar it is because they hands down did the best alternate cover for issue two and the second-best cover for issue three. Camilo has a distinct style that fits the Vanya covers, one that is hard to describe but can easily be seen such as in the character’s dreadlocks that looks like headless but powerful snakes from Medusa. Camilo depicts Vanya with a balance of cheesecake glam and sword and sorcery warrior woman aesthetic. There is a slight hint of parody in the Camilo/Shelton cover: the raptor in the background is searching around, akin to the scene in Jurassic Park where the raptors are trying to sniff out Tim and Lex Murphy who are hiding in the kitchen. Vanya, on the other hand, is not hiding from the raptor, but actively ignoring it as she focuses on giving morsels to the Compsognathus (Compys in the comic) as if giving bread to ducks.

Renato Camilo and Tommy Shelton nude variant cover of Vanya 4. Personal copy.

Since the Kickstarter campaign was wildly successful a few stretch goals were unlocked that included physical ephemera for backers. First there is a holographic art print of Vanya done by artist Zach Raw who has done covers for other Bad Bug titles, such as Bad Pussy, Astrowitch, and others. With its cyberpunk-ish imagery and purple tones the print evokes some hardcore synthwave vibes. 

Holographic art print by Zach Raw.

And finally, there is also a set of dinosaur trading cards (artist unknown). The cards look kid-friendly being duotone in nature: the dinosaurs are all white (inviting someone to colour them in with crayons) while the backgrounds are all a single colour: red for the raptor, orange for the stegosaurus, etc. The cards are both charming and disarming, being so “accessible” in nature in contrast to the Vanya comic with is full of sex and over the top violence. 

Dinosaur trading cards for Vanya issue 4.

Overall, a big “wow” for issue four. Just the right amount of jungle adventure, fighting, erotica, dinosaur cameos, and plot advancement. Things are going down in the world of Vanya, past, present, and future. 

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Bad Bug Media Vanya 04 Product PageVanya 04 Kickstarter PageAlyza Dunn (Writer)Zoran Jovicic (Artist)Mike Tener (Creator / Producer / EIC Bad Bug)Renato Camilo (Cover Artist)Bryan Magnaye (Colorist)JC Fabul (Cover Artist)Zach Raw (Art Print)

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Death Nell Issue 01 ReviewVanya Issue 01 ReviewVanya Issue 02 ReviewVanya Issue 03 Review